ETCC: Boris Said wins BMW Sports Trophy

Munich/Going. American Boris Said has won the historic BMW Sports Trophy for
the most successful BMW non-works racing driver in the 2001 season. A
team-mate of Hans-Joachim Stuck, he was presented with the award at the BMW
Motorsport Party held...

Munich/Going. American Boris Said has won the historic BMW Sports Trophy for
the most successful BMW non-works racing driver in the 2001 season. A
team-mate of Hans-Joachim Stuck, he was presented with the award at the BMW
Motorsport Party held last Saturday in Going (A).

"BMW's greatest motorsport successes are down to factory involvements," said
BMW Motorsport Director Gerhard Berger, "but most successes are down to
independent competitors. These ambitious drivers who ride to victory in our
cars without a factory contract are valuable ambassadors of the BMW brand on
the world's racing circuits." BMW has been awarding the Sports Trophy for
more than three and a half decades with the aim of encouraging such drivers.
It is worth a total of DM 456,000, distributed among 20 drivers.

2001 winner Boris Said (39) is frequently seen contesting several race series
simultaneously, something he has been doing for a quarter of a century now.
The reward for his efforts amounts to DM 70,000. Among his successful races
in the 2001 season were those with the new BMW M3 GTR in the American Le Mans
Series (ALMS). Born in New York and now a resident of California, Said took
fifth place in the GT class of the ALMS and picked up 357 points in the
coefficient system which determines the winner of the BMW Sports Trophy.

Said began his motor racing career at the age of 12 when he took up
Motocross. By the time he was 16 he was already celebrating his first car
racing victories. In 1996 he joined BMW Team PTG. His last BMW victory to
date was on 6 October 2001 when, sharing a BMW M3 GTR with Stuck and Bill
Auberlen, he triumphed in the GT class of the 1000-mile 'Petit Le Mans' at
Road Atlanta.

Second place in the BMW Sports Trophy listings went to Sandor van Es with 353
points. The 31-year-old from Arnheim (NL) won the 2001 Dutch Touring Car
Championship in a BMW 320i DTC.

Third place (332 points) was taken by his compatriot Peter Kox (37). Kox
claimed the title in the European Touring Car Championship with a BMW 320i
similarly prepared in close adherence to production trim according to the
Super Production Regulations.
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All placings in the BMW Sports Trophy 2001:

Bonus payments to continue for successful DTC customer teams
This season, as last year, BMW will be awarding bonus payments to successful
customer teams. The team that wins the title in the 2002 German Touring Car
Challenge with a BMW 320i DTC will once again receive spare parts vouchers to
the value of 12,500 euros per fielded car or a maximum of 25,000 euros per
team.

For the 2001 season just past, DTC winner Markus Gedlich (Team Schubert
Motors) claimed the bonus.

Fellow BMW-badged contenders also benefit from overall victory by a BMW
driver, since all other BMW customer teams regularly appearing in the series
- i.e. in at least eight races - receive spare parts vouchers worth 5,000
euros per car or a maximum of 10,000 euros per team.

In order to improve preparations for the season, BMW will be organizing two
days of testing for all customer teams. One will take place in advance of the
first race, while the second is scheduled for a later stage in the season.
During the two test days, BMW engineers will be in attendance to assist
teams.